Even though I've been pretty busy with moving-related stuff lately, I've still been able to work on the board some. Got the second lam coat done on Sunday, and then I was able to do both hotcoats Monday evening. Everything went pretty well with all the fiberglassing. All the gel times were perfect and most of it came out smooth. I did free laps, which is nice (as opposed to cut laps) because it A) saves the waste of tape and B) saves time by not having to tape off and by not having to cut the laps. I'm getting better at knowing how much resin to use so as to reduce waste: on the deck hotcoat I used 20 oz., which was enough to do the board, then hotcoat the four fin panels. On the bottom, I used 16 oz., which proved just enough. It's a far cry from my first and second boards, where I would only use 3/4 of the resin I had catalyzed.
For this decal I used my paint spray gun and sprayed the back of the rice paper, to make it opaque so the stringer wouldn't show through. It worked pretty well, and is something that I meant to do on the last board, but didn't.
Didn't get to go surfing the past couple days, mainly because of work and busy doing other things. Yesterday morning I got there before the wind had really cleaned it up, and after work the wind had cleaned it up too much and blown it out for the most part. Water looked really beautiful though, really clear. I'll get in again, at this rate maybe not until I've got a new board.
As most of you probably already know, this past week Jeannine and I bought the above house. It is blue and located in Tuckerton. In the bottom left you can get a glimpse of the future headquarters of Strange Flora, not too mention whatever projects I'm in the midst of. So I've been busy with the house stuff for the most part, which is pretty fun. Rebuilding the old wooden windows that need it should be interesting, and fixing up the shed to be a shaping/glassing room on one side and a wood shop on the other will a nice challenge, as far as getting the most out of the space provided.
BUT just because I haven't been posting, don't assume there hasn't been any activity on the surfboard construction front. On Thursday night, I glassed the flats of the fin panels, as the are going to be single-foil. They're looking pretty nice, I can't wait to start foiling them.
Also, tonight I decided to do the first lam coat. I was just intending to get the board ready for glassing tomorrow morning, but as I did that, I got an energy boost, so I did it. It came out not bad. I'm excited to get this board done, of course I don't see the point since we don't get any waves anymore.
Yeah, so it's been an exciting couple of days, with a lot more excitement to come as we move into our new home. Hopefully I'll get to do the other lam tomorrow morning, and then maybe, just maybe, the first hotcoat tomorrow evening. But I don't know about that. What I do know is that it's 2:52 in the AM, it's raining outside, and I'm tired. Good night.
Basically finished shaping 004 this evening. There are some minor adjustments that need to be made, but I'm going to wait and do the final final sanding right before I glass, because I know I'll just keep on messing with it if I go near it with a piece of sandpaper before then. I already started to go at it too much today, but I refrained and called it quits for the night.
It should be a fun board, definitely a lot of foam. I picked up the fin boxes from Greenlight in Philly on Saturday, along with two (2) blanks: one for Mark's board, and one for Ryan's. It'll be cool making theirs (hopefully) very soon after I finish this one, instead of there being a couple months in between.
I've also been up to this the past couple days: four cedar panels for four wood fins. I laid up the panels out of seven 3/4" strips, and then I surface planed them today. They came out really flat and it should be fun making the fins for the Probox system. I'm really excited to be able to experiment with fin placement without having to make a whole new board. Plus, these will be pretty cheap, and I've got plenty more cedar if I want to experiment further (double foiled fronts and/or rears, smaller rear trailers, a Canard Quad Cutaway setup, etc.). I hope to begin glassing this week. I've just got to finalize the decal for the board, which I think I'm going to do right now.
P.S. - There is a type of bird I've been hearing a lot lately, and it has the most sing-songy carefree birdsong I think I've ever heard. I laugh every time I hear it. Once I am able to identify said bird, I'll share it with all you bird-lovers out there.
My Dad told me about this the other day, and I just got home from work and saw it in the Mailbag (check out the headline, pretty clever...). A New Jersey Surf Museum exhibit is opening at the Tuckerton Seaport on May 1. Sounds like it will be pretty interesting, as it will include lots of boards, as well as music, photos, magazine articles, and all that. Go right here for more information, according to that local publishing juggernaut, the Sandpaper. And check out right here for information direct from the source.
I don't know if any of you frequently buy the large dill pickles from barrels that they sell at delicatessen, but it's something that I do every so often, and wish I did more. Those pickles are delicious, but what I like aside from the pickle is the bag that accompanies the pickle. They are made of wax paper, and are often really funny/weird. Example:
See what I mean? But this got me thinking this: the phrase "it's a pickle" is often used to say "this is a mystery" or "this is a tough situation," but maybe it became "it's a pickle" because it was initially "it's a dilly" and through the evolution of language it logically just became "it's a pickle," a dill being a kind of pickle. So, that was one theory, which after some quick OED research, proved to be wrong (the closest thing I found under "dill" was in the verb form: to conceal, hide, keep secret. Unfortunately, the most recent use of this is from circa AD 1300, so I ruled it out). So my other theory is correct, that some clever and comical dill pickle marketing firm chose to replace "pickle" in the common phrase with "dilly," most likely because it still has the same amount of syllables as "pickle," so as not to throw off the tongue with awkward changes, and also because the word "dilly" is kind of funny, especially combined with the visuals of a Sherlock Holmes-like detective standing on a large dill pickle peering through his magnifying glass. Actually, the real reason they probably chose "dilly," aside from the humor, is that, while describing the pickle inside, "dilly" also means: A delightful, remarkable, or excellent person or thing. Which the pickle inside surely was.
Started shaping 004 today. I had planned on starting it tomorrow, but then I ended up having a free night tonight, and so I started.
I'm basically going off of Frank's Chemistry "Boombastik" that I love so much, and since I love it so much, I decided to change very little. I did decide to make a change to the tail. Above: the Boombastik tail is the template on the right, and the tail I'm going with is the tail on the left. Kind of a rounded-diamond type thing, kind of...I'm the extra area on the wide tail will add some speed. That way I can beat Frank on all those party-wave races.
After thinking about a project for an unmeasurable amount of time, it's always exciting to take that first irreversible step and drive that saw deep into the foam. You know then that there's no turning back now. I imagine after someone shapes hundreds or thousands of surfboards, some (hopefully not all) of the excitement disappears from shaping. But for me, starting on my fourth, it's still the embarking on some epic journey of wonder. The epic thing will come back again with the music selection of the day. See below....
So yeah, I was able to flatten the bottom, cut the template out, square down the edges, get the outline smoothed out, and start on the rocker today. I don't know if I'm going to be able to get the board glassed by the end of next week like I wanted to, tomorrow being Wednesday already, but I'm going to try. We'll see.
And now for music to take epic journeys by. A lot of my favorite bands from the past couple years have been from Canada. Those Canadians know how to play interesting music well and do it time and time again. Some of my favorites are Black Mountain and Pink Mountaintops, both led by Stephen McBean, and utilizing a collective of musicians, but they are not the focus here. All the rest of the bands from Canada contain about three members: Carey Mercer, Dan Bejar, and Spencer Krug. That is an exaggeration, but not by too much. These guys are linked to so many good bands that it's kind of mindblowing. There are three songs I will post today, and I wish I could post more, and really I could, but I won't.
"You Go On Ahead (Trumpet Trumpet II)," the sixth track from Sunset Rubdown's 2009 album Dragonslayer. This is Spencer Krug's project. It was hard to pick a song off this album, or to even narrow it down to this album. But I did it...
"A Hand At Dusk," the eighth track off of Swan Lake's album Enemy Mine, also released in 2009. This band is comprised of all three of the previously named Canadian gentlemen. This song is really good, but something tells me I should have picked "Paper Lace." But then which version, the one off this album or the one off of the aforementioned Dragonslayer?
And finally, "Stockades," the third track off of the 2007 album Tears of the Valedictorian, by Carey Mercer's band Frog Eyes. Not only is this a good song, but Frog Eyes is releasing a new album I think this month or the next month or sometime soon. Anyway, I've downloaded it and can't wait to listen to it tomorrow. By the way, they are playing in NY in June, I think.
Some photos. Sorry, none are of birds. Those are on their way. For now, look at these. Also, link to the Big Man's new web page. Pretty smart.
This one looks really faded, but it's actually cloudy day pre-dawn pastel washout from 03.31.2010. Nice wave though.
Lots of you have commented on the lack of Beatles songs on this blog. I admit I agree, it's strange. That's why I'm putting this song on here today. "What Goes On," the eighth track on the British release of Rubber Soul. The whole album is amazing. Listen to it today and you'll not regret it.
I got out for a pre-dawn session the other day on the green Mohawk...
I finally got a chance to try out this short canoe that my grandfather gave me in November. I paddled it around the marshes in off of Cedar Bonnet Island. It was really nice out and pretty relaxing. Which is what I felt I needed since we've been buying this house.
Imagine you catch a wave, and it's a really exciting, beautiful wave and everything's going fine, then you wipe out towards the end. You don't make the wave all the way. It was fun, but you didn't get there, so you paddle back out. Then you catch another great head-high peeling left that holds up really nicely, you get covered with a nice barrel for a few seconds, but then you wipe out again. You catch a rail or something, you don't know, but for some reason you eat it. So you paddle back out. The current's strong and your arms are tired. So you go for another wave, but you nosedive. You're really starting to have a terrible time. You get mad at your board. You nose dive again. You quit surfing for good. You catch another wave, big, one to two foot overhead or so, hollow, heavy, and you're trimming fast down the line, but then you wipe out again. You feel your taut leash go slack while you get churned around in the underwater deepening darkness: it's broken. Just when you think you're about to run out of air, you surface and look around for your board. To your relief, it's only about 20 feet away, but then you see the first wave of a massive set getting ready to release all of it's tremendous energy right onto your head and your leashless board. There's not chance to reach the board before the wave, and it's a long way to shore. And then come the sharks....
Yeah, so it's been a pretty good reminder in why I try to take part in The Way Things Are as little as possible - no TV, no news, no voting, no protests, as little to do with the senselessly irrational, illogical way that governments/corporations/people do their thing. I'm just happier and way more sane (saner?) that way. But of course, you can't exist apart from that which you are, like it or not, a part of. So that's what's up.
It hasn't all been a downer, though. The weather's been beautiful, and yesterday I got a complete darkroom setup for free, which I plan on setting up at our new home, pending the logic of fools. That's right, it's Darkroom: Take Two. Some of you were present at my first attempt at a darkroom: it wasn't really a failure, the darkroom got made and I had all the equipment (also obtained for free via craigslist), but it didn't get much further than that. Hopefully this time, with some nicer photography equipment and also more time (?) I'll do it. We'll see.
Also, sailing season's coming, and I've been busy with a lot of stuff getting the Gannet ready for that: refinishing my tiller, painting the rudder housing, painting the fenders for the rowboat, etc. It's always fun, just a lot of work before and after the season. It's nice being around this year instead of up at school, I can definitely get the boat in earlier.
On the Strange Flora front, while I wait for the blanks that I ordered for others' boards to come in, I'm going to shape a fourth board for myself out of a 5'10" fish blank I've got. It's going to be similar to Frank's Chemistry "Boombastik," because every time I ride that board I love it so much. I might take some elements from other small-wave performance boards (i.e. white diamond, dumpster diver) but I'm hesitant to change too much about Boombastik's design, because I always have so much fun on it. I'm thinking I might give it a little more of a squash tail, but not too much more. I'm going to use the Probox fin system, so I can mess with fin positioning a bit, which will be kind of interesting. If everything goes well, I'll be able to get the board shaped and glassed within the next two weeks, and then just wait until I go out to Greenlight in Philly to pick up the blanks and the finboxes. Should be interesting. Stay tuned.
And for some music today, "Powerman," by the Kinks, off Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneyground. An amazing song from an equally amazing album. In Britain in the time of Alexander Pope, John Dryden, Johnathan Swift and all the rest, satire in verse had the power to bring down corrupt government officials and make public disgraces of some of the most greedy, money-grubbing powermen. When the Kinks came around, satire may have lost some of its previous power to make social change, but that doesn't mean it was any less biting. Here they are, in some their most rocking, satirical finest.
P.S. I never remember my dreams but the other day I did and in it the whole world was being methodically destroyed by a race of aliens that had laid siege to the Earth, and there was not a thing anyone could do about it but wait. I woke up thinking it was real, and it kind of is.
This blog was started as a way to chronicle my adventures into surfboard shaping and just surfing in general. Since its inception, it has evolved into a log of whatever I feel like rambling about and sharing with the world, including, but not limited to: photographs, bicycles and bicycling, film, music, gardening, cute pictures of Henry, and more.
